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Over the last few years, Korea’s auto giant Hyundai has experienced a renaissance. Quality has risen, style has become modern, and the driving experience is as good as any of its competitors from Japan. When the Azera rolled into our test garage, the overwhelming response was, “Oh yeah, that’s still around.”

The Azera is old school Hyundai, designed when the company had just started to figure out what needed to be done to play with the big boys, but couldn’t quite execute it. Everything on the Korean midsize is developed to 7/10. It still seems like this is the test car for newer, better cars like the Genesis and the new Sonata. It isn’t necessarily a bad car; it just isn’t what we know Hyundai is capable of.

Build quality is good. Gaps are consistent, the paint is nice, and the styling borrows from some of the best names in the business, but Hyundai can’t quite meld it into a coherent form. There is a bit too much mass over the undersized 17-inch wheels, the part lines look more like they were meant for cost-effective body part-stamping than styling, and the look just doesn’t flow like the new Genesis.

While the exterior of the Azera is only slightly disappointing, the interior really starts the free fall of letdowns. The artificial wood interior is an embarrassment to polymers everywhere. The door pulls and steering wheel inserts look like photographs of another car’s wood interior rolled inside plastic tubes. Wood is tough to pull off, and when you make a half-hearted attempt like this, it’s just impossible. The upholstered surfaces have a soft and deep feel to them atypical of budget-conscious cars, but the visual aspect it is lacking. The dash looks like molded plastic out of an econobox, but once you touch it, you realize it’s actually soft. It all comes down to grain and color choice, both of which fail on the Azera.

Our tester had the optional touch screen navigation and entertainment system. The navigation system was obviously designed by someone who didn’t get nearly enough attention as a child. It talks constantly to remind you it’s still there. “Take the highway, i405, on your left, in 2 miles.” OK, great. One minute later, “Take the highway, i405, on your left, in 1 mile.” Got it. “Take the highway, i405, on your left, in one quarter-mile.” I know! “Take the highway, i405, on your left, in 500 feet.” No, really, on the left, you say? “Take the highway, i405, on your left, in 200 feet.” Stop bugging me, I know, 405, on the left, I got it,the first three times. “Make a U-turn to get back to i405, now on your right in 200 feet.”

Driving the Azera is an emotional roller coaster. The 3.8-liter V6 has plenty of torque. It’s smooth and quiet, and better than many in its class. The transmission is equally smooth, and shifts are longish, but not rough at all, and appropriate for this car. The problem comes when you need to put that power to the ground. The Azera will do musclecar-like burnouts all day long when the traction control is switched off. With it on, the car backs off the throttle so much, it may as well have a more efficient four-cylinder. Hyundai equipped the car with low rolling-resistance tires in an effort to increase gas mileage. These may work for that, but are pretty inefficient at their primary job of sticking car to pavement. Even with the lower rolling resistance and a slippery aerodynamics, we couldn’t quite hit 20 mpg combined, and most of that was freeway driving.

Steering feel was another pleasant surprise. Smooth and direct, it was better than in the Acura TSX I had most recently driven. The letdown here is minor. When making a U-turn or parking, hitting full lock was like smacking a welding table with a hammer. Apparently any sort of rubber stops would have been too much of an expense. Proper damping rates also seemed to have eluded Hyundai. Around town the Azera rides great, but it lacks even a hint of sportiness. At highway speeds it floats around and at times feels as though it wants to take off. We didn’t have time to test this car full of people and cargo, but we imagine the suspension gets worse with added weight.

We can’t figure out why this car still exists in Hyundai’s lineup. A Sonata has slightly less rear-seat legroom, but is substantially cheaper and better in just about every other way. The Genesis is almost exactly the same size, has the same powertrain, and is a far better car for another 2 grand. Unless Hyundai is planning on making a big push into the rental car market, we just can’t see why it keeps building these. If you are about to purchase a car and you aren’t an enthusiast, and your Hyundai dealer offer to sell you an Azera at half price, consider it. Maybe.

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